William Gibson's Archangel
William Gibson's Archangel book cover

William Gibson's Archangel

Hardcover – May 2, 2017

Price
$26.85
Format
Hardcover
Pages
128
Publisher
IDW Publishing
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1631408755
Weight
1.32 pounds

Description

"This is a comic that fires on all cylinders...It's spectacular."xa0—Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing.net , reviewing issue #1"This is Gibsons first direct foray into the comic book world and he has translated his undoubted skill as a storyteller from that of his novels to this new format/style seamlessly, creating what I now regard (after reading the story for a third time) is a MUST read for any science fiction fan." –John Patterson, Big Comic Page "If you're a fan of alternate history stories like The Man in the High Castle, you should definitely keep Archangel on your radar." –David Pepose, Newsarama “This is a moment in comic book history–a major event.xa0One of the most important Science Fiction writers of the modern era enters the comic book field with a strong and fascinating story.” – ComicWow! William Gibson is an American and Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as cyberpunk. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his early works were bleak, noir, near-future stories that explored the effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans—a "combination of lowlife and high tech"—and helped to create an iconography for the information age before the ubiquity of the Internet in the 1990s. Gibson notably coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" (1982) and later popularized the concept in his acclaimed debut novel Neuromancer (1984). These early works have been credited with "renovating" science fiction literature after it had fallen largely into insignificance in the 1970s. Hailed by Steven Poole of The Guardian in 1999 as "probably the most important novelist of the past two decades" in terms of influence, Gibson first achieved critical recognition with his debut novel, Neuromancer . The novel won three major science fiction awards

Features & Highlights

  • Science Fiction Superstar
  • William Gibson
  • ’s first graphic novel! The U.S. political leaders of 2016 abandon the radioactive planet they’ve destroyed and harness the power of humanity’s last hope: The Splitter, a colossal machine designed to manufacture a bright new reality for them to infiltrate and corrupt.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(75)
★★★★
25%
(63)
★★★
15%
(38)
★★
7%
(18)
23%
(57)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Not worth the price they are charging, buyer beware

Gibson and graphic novel, I had expected so much as I thought the combination would be great. It was, just there is now where near enough of it for the cost of the book. Gibson's futures are always quite graphic and combining them to with the graphic novel style is a real hit. I wish All Tomorrow's Parties was presented this way. It would have been cool.

The problem is that the book is soo short that it covers only an outline and the first major cliff hanger of a normal story, yet the cost is the same as a full GIbson book. Gibson's idea of a alternative dystopian future where scientists create a predecessor timeline and then go back to change it novel. The characters are introduced and interesting. The style is war noir and the plot is fast paced. Its just that there needs to be more of it to justify the price. A full story, you can see the outline and where things are going, would have been a masterpiece and creating a defining bridge between graphic and traditional novels. Instead the cost per page and the incomplete nature of the story as told makes this seem like a crass exercise in trading on Gibson's name and reputation.

I am a big fan, read all the books and pre-ordered Archangel when it was first announced and I am completely disenchanted with the result. Sure I will buy another Gibson book, but this one damaged his image in my eyes.
23 people found this helpful
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Story/script pretty good - might have made a fun movie - ...

Story/script pretty good - might have made a fun movie - but the art work in this book is so muddy I could not tell what was happening in 50% of the panels.
11 people found this helpful
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Keep expectations in check

It's a good story. It's a pretty standard mix of Gibson's usual character types (including the plucky heroine!) and it incorporates the "stub universe" concept he used in, "The Peripheral", but used in a different way.
It's a short story, NOT a full blown novel, and if you read it expecting one you'll be disappointed. But if you take the story on it's own terms you'll have a good ride!
7 people found this helpful
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Hard pass

I would give this less than 1 star if possible, the artwork was good & I am or was a huge fan of Gibson but I don't read graphic novels to receive ANY political propaganda left or right. This was in short a long winded & convoluted piece of anti -Trump propaganda masquerading as sci-fi.
6 people found this helpful
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Neuromancer it ain't

I generally devour anything by Gibson as soon as it comes out, and have never been disappointed before. This, though, is pretty underwhelming. A decent short story, but there's must not much there. The artwork is pretty good, but I want more story for my $25.00. Wait for the paperback, or just give it a miss.
4 people found this helpful
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I expected better from one of my favorite SF authors

Kind of run of the mill time travel story. I expected better from one of my favorite SF authors.
4 people found this helpful
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Two Stars

Meh.
3 people found this helpful
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Three Stars

I expected much more
2 people found this helpful
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Five Stars

Gibson is always good. Excellent story and graphic style.
2 people found this helpful
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Not much of a story

much too short. great artwork, but hard to follow whatever the barely scripted story was.. very jumbly & choppy.

Ends abruptly. Not satisfying.

But the art is pretty nice

I'm a BIG fan of Gibson's, so this piece is sadly disappointing. Seems like it was hurriedly thrown together. Most of the (very short) book i could hardly follow what the "story" was supposed to be. Sort of a tangled ongoing "SMASH BANG" visuals of fighting that was poorly tossed together

Only the second time i've been at all disappointed with one of Gibson's creations -- the other was a rather bland & goofy story that he co-wrote, where the two authors patched together a collaborative writing which they sent back & forth to each other. That one rambled along blearlily and it was painful to make myself finish it.
1 people found this helpful